Six Flags to Sell Ohio, European Assets (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=4537191) - Reuters, 3/10/04

QuikQuote: Amusement park operator Six Flags Inc. (PKS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said Wednesday it agreed to sell its Six Flags Worlds of Adventure theme park to Cedar Fair LP for $145 million, and sell its European division to a private investment firm for $200 million. It will use the proceeds to cut its debt and fund other investments in its theme parks. It does not expect to sell any other parks.
The company said its Worlds of Adventure park in Cleveland had been its most difficult market, and would take several years and meaningful capital investment to improve. Meanwhile, the sale of the European assets would allow it to focus on its U.S. business. Six Flags said it would book a loss in the first quarter of about $70 million for the Cleveland disposition, and about $220 million for the European assets.

wow... there's a shock ;)

At least they are taking steps to correct their financial problems.

Who know, maybe the new Euro owners might do wonders for the former SF parks.

Or Cedar Point might be able to turn WOA into something truly special. It is great starting point, and with proper planning of future ride installations (hopefully pursuing more themed attractions and not bare bone coaster designs), the park could turn into a great family destination. Without all the animals, they suddenly have a lot of space for entertainment shows, stunt shows, musicals, theaters, ride films...etc.

Also, I'm hoping the now smaller SF takes their time and looks at how they could improve each park in the US. My primary experience is with Magic Mountain, and certainly is a park that could use some tlc in many areas.

Or...

Cedar Fair buys SFWOA, and returns the name to Geauga Lake.

They close down the wildlife side of things (which has great potential to bring in families).

The park doesn't do so well, so it gets little investment.

CF closes down the underperformer, getting a bunch of rides to distribute to it's other parks, a tax writeoff, and sells the land for development (since the Aurora area HAS seen a lot of growth).

It kind of reminds me of Sea World (Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich)buying Marineland of the Pacific.

hopefully pursuing more themed attractions and not bare bone coaster designs
Not gonna happen---not CF's style.

Just read that the first asset to be relocated are SFWOA's whale and dolphins. They are moving out here to join SF Marine World, for the 2004 season. The other animals might be relocated to their other property, Wild Safari, and others might be sent/sold to zoos around the country.

Found a good pdf. file of SFWOA.

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/worldsofadventure/pdf/map.pdf

from Six Flags web site. As you can see, quite a bit of space will be free when the Wild Life side of the park is vacatn.

Under the proper supervision, the place really could turn into something incredible. Good location, great scenery, their own lake opens up many possibilities. If they consider CP built out, with little room for new ride expansion, they do have pleny of options with their new property.

Screamscape.com featured a couple of interesting articles in its Monday update.....

http://www.virtualmidway.com/news/0312041.asp

http://www.virtualmidway.com/news/0314043.asp

Also, Screamscape.com is reporting that Time Warner is the purchaser of the European parks.

That's interesting that Time Warner has stepped back into ownership of theme parks.

What is good is that maybe, if TW puts some money into it, we can begin to see real challenges to the Disney park chain which would then force competition, which in the end, would benefit the consumer. It's not like Disney newest parks have had much competition, and the fact that the existing parks remain fairly static is a direct result of there being no other company trying to move into that arena. Disney needs a challenger!

At one time, I though Universal in Orlando would be that challenger, but their parent co. is short sighted and cashed in the land around IOA for, oh joy, more shopping. I guess I can hope against hope that whoever did buy the land next to Universal does something creative with it, but I imagine it will be pretty dry.

With TW taking an interest in owning the parks, maybe we will start to see the creation of a highly themed parks with major coasters, family attractions, creating a true balance between the thrill seeker and the family. The Euro SF parks are great starting points for that kind of development.